Allegheny County Jail announces new programs to expand access to books, technology

The Allegheny County Jail announced new programs to expand access to books and technology for inmates.

The jail and Carnegie Library said their expanded partnership will offer access to additional eBooks and audiobooks.

The jail and library had an existing relationship that included work readiness programming, book and movie discussions, aid for the physical book collection and other programs that occurred before the covid-19 pandemic. The partnership has now evolved to include the opportunity for inmates to access the library’s eBook and physical book collection.

“We are grateful to the staff at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh for their continued and ongoing support of literacy at the Allegheny County Jail,” Warden Orlando Harper said. “They have been an important partner to us in providing services to the individuals who are incarcerated here as well as a trusted voice as we work through how best to provide more access to a variety of mediums in the facility.”

The jail recently announced a new partnership with Overdrive, a digital eBook distributor. With this new partnership, incarcerated individuals will have access to OverDrive’s catalog of over 6 million books in addition to the 160,000 eBooks, magazines, audiobooks and videos already available through the jail’s work with the Carnegie Library.

OverDrive’s eBook collection will be available for inmates on tablets later this month. The jail committed over $10,000 to the original purchase of services.

These additions augment the facility’s library, which includes over 10,000 titles from an array of genres, reading levels, authors and languages. There is a lending library in each housing unit, allowing inmates to sign out books which are rotated around housing units from a central location.

Family and friends will once again be able to order books for inmates through Barnes & Noble and Christian Books after the program was suspended in November due to an investigation regarding safety and security concerns over contraband. Through this program, approximately 30 to 60 books are sent to inmates in the facility each month.

The Allegheny County Jail also announced increased use of technology to allow inmates to connect with loved ones while in-person visits are limited due to covid-19. The jail has restricted social and professional visits during the pandemic, but offered free, daily five-minute phone calls for incarcerated individuals at a cost of $40,000 per month. Because visiting restrictions remain in place, the jail will provide additional funding to expand those free calls to 10 minutes daily. Calls are made through tablets or phones in each housing unit. The extended time for those calls went into effect Wednesday.

The jail is partnering with Human Services to ensure family visits continue via video calls while covid-19 disrupts regular visitations.

The jail’s library is trying to grow through book drives launched by the HOPE Chaplaincy Services office. The facility’s current book drive will continue through Dec. 28. Anyone interesting in donating can reach out to the HOPE Chaplaincy Services at 412-350-2057 or at jailchaplains@alleghenycounty.us. Donated books undergo a physical review to ensure there is no contraband.

For more information regarding the jail’s library services, visit the county’s website.